Having just finished Charlotte Bronte's Jane Eyre
, I am wondering what on earth took me so long to pick it up. I thought it was beautiful and brilliant. I can't promise this will 100% spoiler-free but I'll try. You've been warned, though I'm likely the last person on earth to read this so I'm probably safe. At first, I just sort of pitied Jane. She's just a sad orphan who gets bullied by her cousin and is hated by her aunt and basically life just sucks. Around the time her aunt decides to send her away, Jane starts getting just a tiny bit sassy and that's when I fell in love with her. She is proper and respectful most of the time but every so often she got a little snarky and it kept her from being too pure and goody-goody. I can't stand when the protagonist is a paradigm of perfection and virtue. It's unrealistic, no one is that perfect.Jane is fantastic because despite all she is lacking in, she has her self-respect and no one is going to take that from her. She struggles with it, but she sticks to her guns and what she knows is right.
I knew about Rochester's big secret when I went into this book because, well, I don't happen to live under a rock. So, I wasn't surprised but I was still angry. I wanted to throttle him for screwing up Jane's happiness. For awhile there it seemed every step she took towards happiness, something would force her to take a few steps back. Even near the end when she finally has her independence and a family, St John has to come along and make it all awkward. Seriously, worst proposal ever!
In the end, it all worked out and I was content with the way it wrapped up. The entire this is beautifully written and I found it easy to read, no small feat for many classics. A definite must-read.
Now, I need to go talk my mom into seeing the new movie with me because my husband would sooner die than go with me.
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5 comments:
Dear Reader. This is my most beloved literary classic. Jane and I are kindred spirits. I'm so happy you loved it too. I'm going to see the movie tonight. I'll let you know what I think.
This book was a turning point in my life. I read it when I was sixteen (and I didn't know about Rochester's secret so that whole thing was shocking and earth moving for me). My first reaction was "what have I been doing with my life wasting time reading all those cheap romances that I had previously enjoyed. THIS IS ROMANCE!!!
Since then I don't know how many times I've read the book but it is indeed one of my favorites. Am now following you!
Jane Eyre is my favorite book. Ever. It is so a part of my soul that I literally started crying when I saw that someone had written "Jane Slayre". I'm so glad you enjoyed it too! :)
Oh my goodness, I hadn't heard about 'Jane Slayre'. I haven't read any of them but I'm not sure I'm a fan of the bastardization of my classics. I know originality is lacking in Hollywood but in print as well? Sad. Come up with your own idea instead of piggybacking on the greats.
I read this quite sometime ago and loved it. The thing with certain books is that you never get bored of reading them over and over again. Maybe I will just read this one more time.
Jane Slayre?? Seriously???????? How RIDICULOUS can people get??
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